I return to talk about action figures. Yep.

Well, I guess I am down to posting only sporadically these days. Something to do with moving house, I suppose.

Anyway, if you go to the DC Direct site, you'll see that they've got something new coming out next year--then-and-now two-pack action figures. You get two of the same character, as depicted at the start of their career and as they appear today. They've got Nightwing, Catwoman, Joker and Batman on the list.

And while I don't particularly need Nightwing in his first costume, and while the Joker is drawn in so many ways that it's hard to be sure which is the original and which the current version, I am sorely tempted by both the Batman and the Catwoman. Particularly the Batman. Picture an action figure of first-appearance Batman. No, wait, you don't have to picture it, you can go to the site and see it. Awesome.

As for the Catwoman, I like the costuming but not so sure about the figures themselves.

Still, clever idea, and a series I hope continues on for a while.

Where I've been

Yes, I know, I've been gone. Been in the process of buying a house, which is somehow distracting. :)

Anyway, so the comics came last week and I've read about half of them. And I really think I'm going to switch just about everything to trades (other than Secret Six and possibly Captain America). This is, in part, a space issue. The whole packing thing? Has made it oh-so-clear that trades are just easier to deal with. Easier to organize, easier to find when you want them. And the 15 longboxes and handful of shortboxes that are going into the attic? Realistically, I know I won't be going through them often. Trades are the way to go from now on.

As for the action figures? Selective (and possibly seasonal) displays. You know, Green Lantern characters for Christmas, Batman and company for Halloween, that sort of thing. :) But there's just not room for all of them. Anywhere. I still love 'em, but will have to love them not all at the same time.

Now, going to go read my new Justice League International Volume Two. It's a lot of fun to read apart from so much of the text being a bit illegible--I don't know whether that's a poor print job or just the font used back then, but my old eyes don't much like it.

Lantern Love [Spoilers for GLC if you don't read previews]

So, there's a preview up of Green Lantern Corps 39.

Remember not long ago, when Natu and Kyle encountered that Star Sapphire who had them peer into her gem to see who their "true love" was, and they discovered that the feeling was mutual, and they ran off to have an illicit (because GLs are no longer allowed to date) affair that could get them both thrown out of the Corps?

And while I find the idea of "true love" irksome--I think it's both a fallacy and potentially just a very bad thing, considering the number of folks who will stick with a bad boy/girlfriend because they think that person is their "soulmate"--at least that provided a context for the relationship forming under those circumstances. It also provided a context for Kyle--who sometimes seems to have bought into his own "kiss of death" image--being willing to do so at all.

However.

In this preview, Kyle admits to Guy that he didn't really see Natu in the gem. He saw Jade. He lied to Natu. I'm not sure why--because he does like her and is attracted to her, and Jade isn't exactly available? Because he didn't want her to feel bad or be embarrassed that she saw him in the gem? Because it just seemed like a good idea at the time? Who knows?

What it does indicate is that Kyle is kind of an ass.

If he'd told the truth to Natu, telling her that no, he didn't see her in the gem...well, she might have been embarrassed, might even have felt a bit hurt, but she wouldn't have gotten into a relationship with him under false pretences and against her better judgment.

I'm thinking he's in for a well-deserved verbal beatdown when Natu finds out what's up.

Oh, and the "true love" thing? I can't really imagine that it would have been Jade he saw, either if there's truth behind it or if it's (as I think likely) his own perceptions/projections that he saw in the gem.

In either case, it ought to be Alex.

However, since I don't think Alex is getting a Black Lantern ring, making it Jade makes some narrative sense. But it's still wrong.

A public service announcement

I've just learned that DC Universe Classics is making a Katma Tui action figure. (Also a John Stewart action figure, but DC Direct has one of those coming out also.) You can pre-order it right now. Which I just did.

Katma Tui, Arisia...all we need now is Soranik Natu and I'll be...well, I'll be very happy. :)

Coolness!

I have a Black Lantern ring!

Now, both the kids want it. And if I had two, they could have them. But I only have one. So in the interest of household peace, I will keep it for myself.

Yep, that's why.

Arisia!

Just saw this in the latest DC previews:

BLACKEST NIGHT SERIES 3 ACTION FIGURES

BLACKEST NIGHT continues to astonish as DC Direct introduces the third series of action figures based on this storyline!

Don’t get caught without these new action figures, including Aquaman, the third member of the Black Lanterns; Arisia, the Green Lantern charged with protecting Earth; Larfleeze, the only living member of the avaricious Orange Lantern Corps, who comes with the slain – and slavish – Glomulus; and Star Sapphire of the Zamorans, whose members battle using the violet power of love.

All four figures feature multiple points of articulation and include a display base. Larfleeze, Arisia and Star Sapphire also come with lantern accessories.

An Arisia figure! Hot damn!

They've also got a Star Sapphire figure in this set, but I've already got one and really don't think I need two of 'em.

Legion costume thoughts

I've been spending my online time today looking at stuff about the Legion of Superheroes. You know, in preparation for starting to read about them again.

And of course I've been reading some about the history of the title.

I wasn't around when they made their first appearance. And I only read them very occasionally in the sixties (seeing as how the sixties were over before I was nine). But during the seventies, I became quite a fan.

And I remember when the team got their new costumes. The Cockrum-designed ones. When Saturn Girl went from a tunic and tights to a pink swimsuit, when Element Lad changed his suit from pink to green, when Phantom Girl put on the bell-bottomed jumpsuit with strategically-placed cutouts. In general, the new outfits were brighter and/or showed more skin than the old ones.

And I was reading today about the change, folks looking back, saying that many of the women's new outfits were problematic--that Saturn Girl's new suit was uncharacteristically revealing, Princess Projectra's not particularly dignified (the neckline basically dipped to her navel and was held together with lacing). And I can kind of see all that now (certainly the outfits they put on Night Girl and Laurel Kent would have been gravitationally challenging).

But at the time, as a kid, I just thought they were pretty and futuristic. The minidresses, tunics and tights seemed so old-fashioned. The hair-dos did't help--I remember being convinced that Light Lass must have been much, much older than her brother because of her hair (which reminded me a bit of Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke). The new outfits came with new hairstyles, for both male and female Legionnaires (Timber Wolf, anyone?). And to me, everyone just looked so much more modern--so much more as if they could have existed in the future. Any era's depiction of future times seems to be built off of some extreme contemporary fashion (Saturn Girl's Farrah hair was a good example of this!)--and the original Legion costumes, to 1970s kids, just looked dated.

Now, of course, the old tunic-and-tights look is charmingly retro. Even Phantom Girl's flares are probably in that category. As for Imra's pink swimsuit? Maybe not so much.

There's a waste of an afternoon.

So the husband has been watching coverage of the comic con on TV today, and I've been doing some internet stuff and looking up if anything interesting comes on (which, really, it hasn't).

He's been watching for several hours.

Hours, and JUST NOW they've announced that they'll be talking about actual comic books for a little while. At some point.

Remind me never to go to a comic convention, because I'm just not seeing a point to it.

Legion question (might have spoilers, not sure)

So, although I'm not getting Legion of Three Worlds (I plan to pick up the trade) I have kind of been keeping an eye on what's going on via the internet.

So. Did I misread something, or is the original Legion (the one that grew up) going to be the regular DC universe Legion again?

Because if that's so, I am so getting that book. It's going on my pull list so fast it'll make heads spin.

I see reading comics in my future

I think we've gotten through all the comics my brother gave the kids, and it comes to...

...about 8 1/2 longboxes full.

Yep.

Question for the 90s-aware

So, speaking of 90s comics...

...my brother handed down a bunch of his old comics to the girls, and I've been putting them in longboxes (haven't been sorting them as well as I might, but oh well). And all those 90s years I'd quit buying comics? Well, he didn't.

So...did Marvel put out any comics in the 90s that didn't feature Wolverine in some way? Like, at all?

I dream of comics again

Well, I thought it was going to be another comic-related dream.

Then Tony Stark turned into Michael Jackson.

I've got to stop reading non-comic entertainment news.

I dream of comics

Well, that was longer than I meant to go between updates. Sorry 'bout that.

I really had an odd comic-related dream last night. In the dream, for some reason I hadn't been able to get my comics for a few months, and so I went to a store to stock up. I was happily picking up my comics, adding new titles and so forth, when I noticed that in the time since I'd last gotten comics, a new retro had made an appearance--yes, the "in" thing had become comic books in the style of the 1990s.

I woke up then, so am not sure whether I bought them or not.

I definitely want.

I just ordered comics, and I totally ordered this.

It's a lot more muscular than Kyle Rayner should ever be, but it is an action figure with his original costume, which I've been wanting for ages.

So, yay!

Cartoons?

Okay, so this isn't exactly comic book-related, but...

Animated Shorts: CN Gets "Real" As Fate of "Chowder" Up In Air.

So I'm reading the article aloud to the kids. When I get to the part where they're talking about the live-action shows on Cartoon Network, both girls say:

"They've already got three."

I did not know this because, as the ten-year-old then said:

"But I don't watch any of those."

She then said:

"I don't understand--it's called Cartoon Network!"

By the way, she absolutely loves Chowder. (And I don't mind watching it myself, it's a fun show with a lot of humor.) Lately, Chowder and Flapjack are her favorite CN offerings.

So, if my two kids (ten and fourteen, respectively) are any example, the more live action there is on Cartoon Network, the fewer actual kids will be watching it.

It's deja vu all over again!

Oh, you have got to be kidding.

Marvel Introduces Groundbreaking Foilogram Covers

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...well, you know.

Yeah, I'm old

Came across this blog post today:

Comic Book Crimes of Fashion: Those Avengers Jackets

This is actually one of my favorite Avengers eras, but not at all because of the jackets. :)

More linkage

Nice concise article up on Captain America: Reborn.

Linkage

Interesting link at Comic Book Resources about the past and current direction(s) of Batman.

Um...eek?

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Sigh.